


Some fairytale bliss

by cold_nights_summer_days



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, College Student Peter Parker, Domestic Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot, Oops, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Sad Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, because everyone is alive, break up fic, idk what this is, life advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24719761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cold_nights_summer_days/pseuds/cold_nights_summer_days
Summary: Peter read the text message over and over again,  brain struggling to wrap itself around what was happening.MJ:I think we should break up. It’s nothing to do with you—you’re better than I could have ever asked for—but I need some time for myself. I need to figure some things out. I really hate to be doing this over text, but I won’t see you until spring break and I can’t wait that long. I hope we can stay friends.--------title from something just like this by the chainsmokers, aka MY break up song xD
Relationships: (past), Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 13
Kudos: 66





	Some fairytale bliss

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovelies! I have some new content for you!! (please pretend I said that in a sing-song voice, because that's honestly how it came out in my head). I'll also have some new content for you tomorrow (June 15th) because I get to start posting my big bang story!! It's called North Star and it's set in 1940's Siberia. I'm so excited to share it with y'all, but until then, enjoy this little number <3

Peter read the text message over and over again, brain struggling to wrap itself around what was happening.  
MJ: _I think we should break up. It’s nothing to do with you—you’re better than I could have ever asked for—but I need some time for myself. I need to figure some things out. I really hate to be doing this over text, but I won’t see you until spring break and I can’t wait that long. I hope we can stay friends._

MJ had gone to college in California to get as far away from her parents as she could (she’d have gone to Hawaii, but they didn’t accept her application), but that also meant being as far away from Peter as she possibly could. Peter didn’t follow because he had a full ride offer to MIT. Even if he hadn’t had that, neither May, Tony, or Ned would have let him go just to follow her.

“ _You need to think about your future, Peter. Don’t go somewhere you aren’t passionate about because MJ is going there._ ” They’d say. They’d probably throw in a serious look here or there to further their point. Even so, Peter and MJ promised they’d make it work. They wouldn’t be like those couples on tv who promised to make it work and then broke up halfway through first semester.

But here they were. They had become that stereotypical couple, down to the break-up-through-text schtick. To make matters worse, it was just after Christmas, which meant that Peter was staying with May at the apartment. He didn’t have time to think about what to do before he had to tell her. May would notice something was off instantly. She’d raised him; he couldn’t hide anything.

Instead of focusing on how he was going to deal with May in the morning (read: how May was going to deal with _him_ ), Peter read the message again. Again again again. He could see the words even when he closed his eyes. The current matter at hand; how to respond. Did he send a paragraph back? Did he reply at all?

Peter stared at the screen, his eyes aching from having been awake so long. It was two in the morning. He wanted to sleep, he really did, but he didn’t feel anything except a new empty feeling in his chest. His throat hurt with all the tears he couldn’t seem to cry. MJ was his first girlfriend. His first love.

In the end, Peter didn’t reply to MJ at all. He couldn’t figure out what to say. And instead of waking May up, he texted the only other person that might know what to do.

Peter: _are you awake?_

Peter knew that Tony was definitely not asleep. While he’d mostly gotten his sleep schedule under control, the winter holidays always sent it haywire. He didn’t like to talk about it much, but Peter suspected that he had more nightmares around the anniversary of his parents’ deaths. Peter understood. The same thing happened to him. Thankfully Tony answered him before his mind could fall further down the rabbit hole.

Tony: _yeah, what’s up? Are you hurt?_

Even after all this time, Peter’s late night texts were always met with this response. He laughed quietly to himself before texting back.

Peter: _No. Just a shitty night, is all._

Tony: _How shitty?_

Peter paused for a second, wondering how much information to divulge. He decided all of it.

Peter: _MJ just broke up with me over text. She said she needed time to herself._

Peter watched the three dots that told him Tony was typing back bounce on the screen for several moments before a reply came through. He briefly wondered if he should have just gone to bed instead of bothering Tony with this, but they were past that point. Tony had made it very clear that he was always around for anything Peter needed, no matter how trivial or insignificant.

Tony: _I’m sorry, kiddo. Do you want to talk about it?_

Did he? Kinda sorta not really. Thinking about it hurt, of course, but Peter knew that sometimes just talking about something made it less scary to deal with.

Peter: Yeah.

The message sat on opened for almost ten minutes, and Peter was resigned to not getting an answer and contemplating simply going to bed when he heard a quiet knock on the door. He doubted anyone who didn’t have his super hearing would have noticed it. Sighing, Peter tossed off the covers and tiptoed to the front door. He didn’t even check who it was before opening it.

Lo and behold, Tony stood on the other side holding a grocery bag and wearing pajamas. Peter stared at him blankly, forgetting to invite him inside. Tony pushed past him anyway and headed for the kitchen. Peter followed him there while he explained the situation.

“Sorry I didn’t reply, I was busy speeding. Pretty sure I gave that guy who runs the corner store down the street quite the heart attack, though. People don’t expect to see me in my pajamas at two in the morning. Clearly you didn’t either, since you seem so _excited_ to see me.”

“I figured you’d just call or something. Not show up on my doorstep with . . .” Peter trailed off, waiting to hear what was in the bag.

“Oh! I got ice cream and candy. You know, the stereotypical ‘feeling bad for yourself’ stuff.”

“What flavour?”

“Peppermint,” Tony said completely seriously. Peter glared at him.

“I can’t eat that,” He deadpanned. Tony laughed quietly to avoid waking May.

“I know. That’s why I actually bought strawberry. And don’t worry, I got the kind without all the frozen chunks.”

“Thank god. I mean who puts fruit in ice cream, anyways? If I wanted strawberries, I’d eat yoghurt or something.”

“For someone who claims to not be picky, you have a lot of opinions on ice cream and fruit,” Tony teased. He quickly found two bowls and scooped out a decent amount for the both of them. After the leftovers had been squished into the already overfilled freezer, the two settled onto the couch. Peter had grabbed several blankets to make it cozier.

They ate in relative silence until Peter couldn’t take it anymore. Thought after thought, mostly about MJ, flitted through his head.

“I don’t know what to do,” Peter said truthfully. He glanced down at his half-finished bowl and stirred the spoon half halfheartedly before just putting it on the coffee table. “I haven’t even responded to her message yet. I couldn’t figure out what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything right now if you don’t want to. We can figure that out in the morning. But it’s normal to not know what to do,” Tony said, also putting his bowl on the coffee table so he could focus on the issue at hand.

“But I—” Peter started. It was hard to force the next words out of his mouth. “I love her. A lot. More than I even know what to do with. What if I don’t ever love anyone the same way?”

Peter toyed with the edge of one of the blankets. What if he couldn’t get over her? What if he _didn’t_ — or _couldn’t_ – love anyone else the same way?

“Do you want the truth, Peter?” Tony asked. Peter nodded, not looking up. Tony sighed but continued.

“The truth is, you’re never going to love anyone the same way you love MJ. You can’t love two people the same way because they simply aren’t the same. But that’s totally fine, because not loving someone else the same way you love her isn’t going to diminish how you feel about them. It won’t be any more or any less; it’ll just be different.”

"What if I don’t find anyone else?”

“You will,” Tony assured him. “You’re young. It’s going to hurt like hell for a while, but you’ll get through it. You won’t always feel this way.”

Deep down, logically, Peter knew that. But hearing Tony—his father figure—say it somehow made it feel truer. Tony had never lied to him before, had never steered him wrong. There wasn’t any reason to believe he would lie about this either.

“Thanks for coming over,” Peter said. Tony acted like it wasn’t a big deal (to him it wasn’t, he’d promised to be there for whatever Peter needed and he’d _meant_ it), but it was. After losing Ben, Peter hadn’t thought he’d be able to have moments like these until he met Tony. Then Peter realized that Tony’s advice extended far beyond shitty break ups and fears about the future.

What they had wasn’t any more or any less than what he’d had with Ben, it was just different. And different wasn’t always bad. In this case, it was one of the best things Peter could have asked for.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked this! I love you all and can't wait to see you next time. 
> 
> Scream with me on [Tumblr!](https://funky--lil--spider.tumblr.com/)
> 
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